• The concept of sanitation in the Indian context has been around since the Indus Valley civilisation.
• However, till 2014, sanitation coverage in India was as low as 39 %.  
• 55 crore people in rural areas were without a toilet facility before 2014.
• Swachh Bharat Mission, as one of the biggest mass movements or Jan Andolan programmes of independent India has completely changed the image of rural India through mass scale behaviour change. 

Impact of poor sanitation practices

• Health: Exposure to contaminated drinking water and food with pathogen-laden human waste can cause diarrhoea, cholera, trachoma, intestinal worms, etc.
• This can lead to the stunting of huge swathes of Indian children.
• Environment: Poor hygiene practices impact environment with untreated sewage flowing directly into water bodies and affecting coastal and marine ecosystems, contaminating soil and air, and exposing millions to disease.
• Dignity: It severely affected the dignity of people, especially women and children.
• Economy: A study by the World Bank states that the absence of toilets and conventional sanitation costs India 6.4 % of its GDP in 2006.
• The economic impact of poor sanitation for India is at least $38.5 billion every year under health, education, access time and tourism.

Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)/ Clean India Mission

• It was launched in 2014 (150th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi).
• Aim: To eliminate open defecation and improve solid waste management.
• Under SBM, construction of household-owned and community-owned toilets was carried out.
• It is divided into two phases:
• Phase 1 (SBN 1.0): 2014 - October 2019.
• Phase 2 (SBM 2.0): 2020–21 till 2024-25.
• To achieve the objectives of SBM, the mission was split into two:
• SBM – Gramin: financed and monitored through the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation
• SBM – Urban: monitored by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

Key Features of Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0

• SBM-2.0 envisions to make all cities ‘Garbage Free’ and ensure grey and black water management in all cities other than those covered under AMRUT.
• Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) is the first focused national water Mission.
• It was first launched in June, 2015.
• It aims to provide 100% coverage of water supply to all households.

• It will make all urban local bodies as ODF+ and those with a population of less than 1 lakh as ODF++, thereby achieving the vision of safe sanitation in urban areas.
• Open Defecation Free (ODF) is the termination of faecal-oral transmission, defined by:
• No visible faeces found in the environment/village; and
• Every household as well as public/community institutions using safe technology option for disposal of faeces.
• It focuses on source segregation of solid waste.
• It works for the utilizing the principles of 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle), scientific processing of all types of municipal solid waste and remediation of legacy dumpsites.

Impacts of Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0

• By offering financial incentives for building household and community toilets, the government gave a huge fillip to the toilet infrastructure.
• 55 crore people changed their behaviour and started using toilets.
• From 2014 to 2020, more than 10 crore toilets were constructed.
• India declared itself ODF on October 2, 2019.
• There has been a significant reduction in water and sanitation related diseases.
• It has resulted in an annual profit of more than Rs. 50,000 per household in rural India.
• After becoming Open Defecation Free (ODF), many villages have seen a reduction in the number of deaths due to diseases like diarrhoea, malaria etc.
• Child health and nutrition have also improved.
• By offering financial incentives for building household toilets, it gave a huge fillip to the toilet infrastructure.

The Lighthouse Initiative (LHI)

• It was commissioned by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
• Aim: To implement solid and liquid waste management structures by employing a participatory approach through mobilisation of the village communities, corporates, district and block administration and gram panchayat officers.
• It will be implemented through PPP (public-private partnership), across villages in 75-gram panchayats in 15 states in Phase 1.

Significance of LHI

• Managing household and wastewater at a village level creates hygienic surroundings for the communities.
• Implementing solutions to convert waste to achieve a remunerative return allows communities to become economically self-sufficient.
• Recovery of precious grey water through minimal treatment and treatment of sewage helps tackle scarce water resources, encouraging reuse and conserving water bodies.

The India Sanitation Coalition (ISC)

• It is a multi-stakeholder platform that creates collaborations with private sector, government, financial institutions, civil society groups, media, donors, etc.
• It is recognised as the official intersection between the government and the private sector for engagement in helping build solid and liquid waste management infrastructure.
• It has included activities such as the construction of soak pits, waste stabilisation ponds, drainage channels, compost pits, collection and segregations sheds and biogas plants etc.
• It creates programmes where government funding is used for infrastructure building and private sector comes in as a strategic partner providing expertise in management and technology.

Going forward, the ISC and Lighthouse Initiative should continue to focus on the government’s position with regard to the thematic interlinkages between WASH and sectors such as health, education, gender, nutrition and livelihoods. This successful collaboration can be replicated across the country, holding the promise of taking forward the remarkable success of the first phase of SBM.